5-Minute Mindfulness (9 page)

If you’re afraid of stress or have no clue what stresses you out or why, you’re much more likely to become stressed than someone who knows that stress is a part of life and manages stress with meditation, exercise, or positive affirmations.

RECLAIM YOUR TIME

Remember, your mind is the command center of your body and brain. You, and only you, have the power to say, “I’m going to actually take both of my breaks today,” or “I’m going to go to yoga class tonight,” or “I’m going to eat dinner sitting down for a change and actually chew.” Knowing all the side effects of stress controlling your life— headaches, lost sleep, fights with family, poor diet, and increased risk of disease—how can you afford not to have time for yourself?

5–MINUTE TIME–OUT EXERCISE

Make a list of the top ten things you’re always planning to do for yourself but never make the time to do: get a massage, set up a meditation space, take a watercolor class, see a foreign film, whatever. Write each one down on a scrap of paper, and place the scraps in a bowl. Now close your eyes, pull one out, and do it.
Today.

Do this every day for ten days—and see how your attitude toward time, self-care, and stress changes.

MULTITASKING: GOOD OR BAD?

If balancing the phone in one arm and a child in the other while nudging the dog away from the cat with your spare foot sounds like a slow day, you are one of the many people who multitask. Simply put, you are juggling multiple responsibilities at once, working all the time to keep control of family, work, friends, your health, your finances, and every other part of your life. In any given instant, your mind is bouncing back and forth, thinking, planning, and masterminding your life.

Multitasking is good when it helps you meet all your responsibilities. But multitasking is bad when it proves too stressful.

Some people thrive on being busy, and others struggle. Some people love doing two or three things at once, while others focus on one task at a time and cross each one off the list in its turn. No matter what your style, you need to be able to recognize when you’ve taken multitasking too far.

If any of these are true in your life, you may need to cut back on multitasking:

• A stressor, illness, family problem, or financial disaster zaps energy needed to manage life

• You take on a new responsibility, when you’re already stretched too thin

• A person or event hijacks you in the midst of your responsibilities, preventing you from doing what needs to be done

• Any area of life explodes into an emergency: a child goes to the hospital, your job is cut to part-time, your car dies

Mindfulness can help you recognize the warning signs that you’re trying to juggle too much and you need to respond accordingly.

THE BROWNOUT TEST

Ever notice how your computer slows down when it’s overloaded? Whether it’s loading a massive file, needs a backup, or has one too many photo albums, an overloaded computer is not the efficient, responsive tool the person with a deadline needs.

Your mind, the body’s and brain’s command center, also slows down under pressure. Like that stalling computer screen, the mind too experiences system errors. With care and attention, a system error can be fixed. With neglect and added stress, a system error can deteriorate into a system failure.

Stop and reflect—what are the signs of brownout in your life?

Compare your own signs of brownout with the list below. How many apply to you now?

Waking up exhausted on a full night’s sleep

New aches and pains

Inability to follow normal conversation

Forgetting to eat due to lack of hunger

Weight gain due to excessive hunger

Nightmares or recurring dreams involving stressful situations

Lack of emotion

Excessive emotion

Staring blankly at a computer screen or into space with no idea what you were thinking of

Little interest in people, events, and activities that used to be fun

Little desire for sex or impotence once sex is initiated